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1. Letter from the Editors

Dear Readers,

This week, in our prose series, we present an excerpt of "England in Your Pocket" from Housman Country: Into the Heart of England, by Peter Parker (Farrar, Straus and Giroux):

"It is to the young that the poems’ prevailing mood of romantic melancholy, their depiction of thwarted or unrequited love, and their railing against the injustices of life have always had a special appeal. ‘I don’t know how it is with the young today,’ wrote W.H. Auden in 1972, ‘but to my generation no other English poet seemed so perfectly to express the sensibility of a male adolescent.’ George Orwell concurred ..."

Look for it here.

Enjoy this week's poems!

Warmest regards,

Don Selby & Diane Boller

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2. Sponsor Messages

 Perugia Press Prize
A prize of $1000 and publication by Perugia Press is given annually for a 
first or second unpublished poetry collection by a woman. Submit manuscripts 
for the 2018 prize with a $27 entry fee between August 1 and November 15, 
2017. Both online and paper submissions are accepted. Visit our website for 
complete guidelines.     
 
The 2017 winner, Starshine Road, by L. I. Henley, is now available from 
Perugia Press.
 
Perugia Press -  Publishing the Best New Women Poets since 1997
P.O. Box 60364
Florence, MA  01062

 Palm Beach Poetry Festival
January 15-20, 2018, Delray Beach, Florida 
Deadline to apply for workshops: November 10
Workshops, readings, interview, gala and performance events with Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Chard deNiord, Beth Ann Fennelly, Ross Gay, Rodney Jones, Phillis Levin, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Tim Seibles. Admission is by application. For more information, visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org or email srw@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org

 Vermont College of Fine Arts MFAs in Writing
Vermont College of Fine Arts offers a traditional low-residency MFA in Writing program—now celebrating its 35th year—along with a residential MFA in Writing & Publishing program.

 Diode Editions Book & Chapbook Contests
Diode Editions Book & Chapbook Contests Now Open. At Diode Editions our mission is to beautifully craft our books, and to fanatically support our authors.

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3. Poetry News Links

News and reviews from around the web, updated daily:

• "The Mysterious Music of Georg Trakl," by Christopher Benfey. ((NYR Daily)
• Alexandra S. Levine talks with immigrant poets who recently participated in the "A New Colossus" poetry festival. (The New York Times)
• Collections by Erika Sánchez, Adrienne Raphel, Karyna McGlynn, and Cheryl Boyce-Taylor briefly reviewed by Kathleen Rooney. (The New York Times)
• Whereas, by Layli Long Soldier, reviewed by Natalie Diaz. (The New York Times)
• Ishion Hutchinson on the Derek Walcott. (The New York Times)
• "Exploring the Sources and Consolations of Poetry, in Prose" - Simone White reviews books by Jill Bialosky and Matthew Zapruder. (The New York Times)
• Craig Morgan Teicher reviews A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry by Robert Hass, and American Originality: Essays on Poetry, by Louise Glück. (The New York Times)
• And more...

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4. New Arrivals

These new arrivals are available for purchase via Poetry Daily/Amazon.com.

• Some Say, Maureen N. McLane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• So Where Are We?, Lawrence Joseph (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Zoo at Night, Susan Gubernat (University of Nebraska Press)
• The Moon Reminded Me, Ellen Grace O'Brian (Homebound Publications)
• Weather, Kelly Cherry (Rain Mountain Press)
• Waypoints, John Delaney (Pleasure Boat Studio)
• All My Heroes Are Broke, Ariel Francisco (C & R Press)
• Alarum, Wayne Holloway-Smith (Bloodaxe Books / Dufour Editions, Inc.)
• About Poems: and how poems are not about, Anne Stevenson (Bloodaxe Books / Dufour Editions, Inc.)
• The Autistic Alice, Joanne Limburg (Bloodaxe Books / Dufour Editions, Inc.)
• Trusting Distance, Noël Hanlon (Salmon Poetry / Dufour Editions, Inc.)
• Straya, Paul Summers (Smokestack Books / Dufour Editions, Inc.)
• Subject Matters, Jeremy Robson (Smokestack Books / Dufour Editions, Inc.)

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5. This Week’s Featured Poets

The work of the following poets will appear as Today's Poem on the days indicated:

Monday - Laura Kasischke
Tuesday - Rodney Jones
Wednesday - Rusty Morrison
Thursday - Jeffrey Skinner
Friday - Andrew Joron
Saturday - Jen Hyde
Sunday - Simon Armitage

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6. Featured Poets July 31, 2017 - August 6, 2017

These and other past featured poets may be found in our archive:

Monday - Craig Santos Perez
Tuesday - Lance Larsen
Wednesday - Robert Hedin
Thursday - Sarah Passino
Friday - Scott Cairns
Saturday - Tim Bowling
Sunday - Rick Campbell

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7. Last Year’s Featured Poets

These poems will be retired from our archive during the coming week.

Martin Dyar, "The Plot"
Gretchen Marquette, "Slow Horse"
Robert B. Shaw, "The Tally"
Carl Phillips, "Before the Leaves Turn Back"
David Rivard, "Brush Your Fingers Through Your Hair, Why Don't You"
Katherine Soniat, "Mitosis"
Marlys West, "The Spin of the Chores in a Secret Pocket"

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8. Poem From Last Year

The Tally

Mother first, now my wife. 
Dead within a year. 
A joke unfunny life 
has foisted on me here.

Past sixty, orphanhood 
can't be unexpected. 
It came: I understood. 
Grief was calm, collected.

But that just months ahead 
there would be a second 
farewell to be said— 
that I had not reckoned.

One, two: each blow hit home. 
Each left the house more quiet. 
Each time, the patient loam 
obtained some profit by it.

The orchestra has stopped. 
But faintly, unabating 
though the baton has dropped, 
two notes go on vibrating.

One, two: insistent pair 
clinging to every thought. 
Murmured to vacant air, 
"One, two" adds up to nought.

One, two: my footsteps roam 
from empty street to street. 
Some tireless metronome 
sets the relentless beat.

One, two: the pace I keep 
requires no grace of art. 
Whether I wake or sleep, 
despoiled again, my heart

does all it knows to do: 
as if it overheard, 
it keeps the count—one, two—
will, till I make a third.

Robert B. Shaw
The Yale Review
July 2016

Copyright © 2016 by Robert B. Shaw
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission